In 2025, the Camphill inclusive social development training programs in North America celebrate their 60th anniversary – a milestone marking six decades of education, community life, and professional development in curative education, social therapy, and social agriculture.
The Camphill Seminar in Curative Education began in Aberdeen around 1946, when Karl König established this training course for the early co-workers of the Camphill Rudolf Steiner Schools. Great emphasis was placed on the importance of personal development within the framework of community living, reflected in the guiding phrase: “Community as a path of learning.” During König’s lifetime, the Camphill Seminar for Curative Education took root in Scotland, later expanding to England, Ireland, the United States, Switzerland, Germany, and South Africa. You can read more about the history of the Camphill Seminar in “Camphill Training Courses: Looking back and looking forward, Sixty years of history are a commitment!” by Richard Steel, General Manager of the Karl König Institute.
“The Camphill Movement began spreading into North America in the early 1960s. Camphill Village Copake was founded in 1961, and The Camphill Special School at Beaver Run, Pennsylvania, followed in 1963. In 1965, a one-year ‘Training Course in Curative Education’ was founded for young co-workers who joined one of the two Camphill communities. The course was run cooperatively by the two Camphill communities and Donegal Springs, a Curative Educational school in Pennsylvania that later merged with Camphill Special School. In the course of the year, participants in the Training Course spent time in each of the three locations.
Eventually this course was extended to two years and concentrated on Camphill Special School’s Beaver Run campus in Pennsylvania. Students now had the option of transferring to Aberdeen, Scotland, to complete the third year of the Camphill Seminar in Curative Education and graduate with the Diploma in Curative Education. In 1972, for the first time, a third year was also offered at Camphill Special School, allowing students to complete their Diploma in the US.”
“In the early 1980s it became clear that a distinct training was needed to prepare students to support adults with developmental disabilities through shared living and working in Camphill Village Communities. In 1985, this led to the founding of a three-year Camphill Seminar in Social Therapy at Camphill Village Copake. This program also included students and faculty from Camphill Triform, and there was a strong connection with the faculty of the Camphill Seminar in Curative Education at the Camphill Special School.” (The Camphill School of Curative Education and Social Therapy By Jan Göschel, President of the Camphill Academy )
As these programs grew, the Camphill Academy emerged, integrating the long-standing Camphill training activity into the framework of professional and higher education. Initially, the Regional Adult Education Group – a committee of the Camphill Association in North America – played a key role in shaping this new phase, meeting regularly to align diverse educational activities. It supported the establishment of a regional faculty, which created the unified curriculum that would ultimately receive college credit recommendations. The Curative Education Seminar at The Camphill School and the Social Therapy Seminar at Camphill Village USA were taught on the basis of a new curriculum, starting in 2004 at The Camphill School and two years later at Camphill Copake. The new curriculum received academic recognition and gradually expanded to include other Camphill communities across the region. The Camphill Academy was founded in 2012 by this regional faculty, sought national accreditation, and took over the responsibility for the programs as the professional and higher education organization of Camphill in North America.
To celebrate this 60-year journey, the Camphill Academy is creating a Story Archive, a living collection of memories and reflections from instructors, graduates, and community members. Through these stories, the archive seeks to honor those who have carried the training through its many transformations and to inspire the next generation of students and teachers to carry the Camphill impulse into the future.
We invite you to contribute your story or reflection to this collective celebration. To participate, please email us: info@camphill.edu
